It was a rare opportunity for me as a student to have attended Law Colloquium in Honour of retired Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Justice Kayode Eso, at Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria on July 25, 2006 where former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, was invited as the guest speaker. While delivering his lecture, Prof. Soludo quoted famous Danish Philosopher and Theologian – Søren Kierkegaard– that “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards”. He made reference to this Philosophy with respect to the socio-economic environment in Nigeria as one beckoning for...
G24 EMBASARA Leadership Summit: The Long-Awaited New Dawn, No More Business As Usual
”It is known that all over the state that our politicians and political leaders are the cause of our woes. They introduced several serious social ills into our society namely election violence with rigging, militancy, kidnapping and fraudulent mismanagement of our resources.” This was part of a speech delivered by Chairman of the G24 Embasara Foundation Summit, Chief Amba Ambaiowei, who attributed problems governance and development to the failure of the elected officer to follow laid down codes of conduct. Yesterday, stake holders among Ijaw people, under the auspices of G24 Embasara Foundation, proved that good governance is possible. During...
The Revolutionist As the True National Knight: Retelling Major Isaac Boro Fifty Years After
One common character trait of revolutionists is that they often place their beliefs and commitments above their very existence. That is why, until the Treaty of Paris of 3rd September 1783, General George Washington and other Leaders of the thirteen colonies who waged the Eight-Year long ‘War of Independence or ‘The American Revolution’ against King George III of England and the British Empire were regarded as rebels, with prizes on their heads. Typically, revolutionists are often regarded as villains by the establishment. In contrast, they are esteemed as heroes by those whom they stand for. But it is in very...
Dickson’s Bayelsa State Failed to Invest, Industrialize
Investment and industrialization are twin concepts that are often interchangeably used in modern world economic system. Industrialization is the process by which an economy is transformed from primarily agricultural to be one based on manufacturing of goods, where individual’s manual labour is often replaced by mechanized mass production and craftsmen are replaced by assembly lines while, in the economic sense, an investment is the purchase of goods that are not immediately consumed but are used in the future to create wealth. In this circumstance, Bayelsa’s economic growth can be encouraged through the use of sound industrialization and investment policies at...
Bayelsa Business Council (BBC): Another Conduct-Pipe Like BDIC in Bayelsa?
As Governor Dickson inaugurated another 22-Member Bayelsa Business Council (BBC) to formulate polices aimed at attracting local and foreign investors to the State and as well to shore up her revenue base; the question descending minds are asking is; when will the Restoration Administration tell Bayelsans the “Gain-Income, Increase-Capital and Safety of Principal” from the #10bn Bayelsa Development and Investment Corporation (BDIC) inaugurated in South Africa and London in May 2013? It would be recalled that Governor Dickson inaugurated Bayelsa Development and Investment Corporation (BDIC) with an initial take-off grant of #10bn, which gesture according to him was to enable the State...
The Social Contract, Leadership and the the Journey Towards Infamy
Not only in developing countries, where human existence is still sort of primordial, but globally, men are wont to ask, what human society, as embodied in the state, holds for them. In other words, why does the state exist? And to what ends should its raison-d-etre serve? So one of the most exciting foundational courses offered in most faculties of Humanities, Social and Legal Sciences, worldwide, is “Political Philosophy” or “History of Political Thought’. In some climes it is also offered as a General Studies course for all students. At postgraduate and doctoral levels, this becomes more pellucid, dwelling amply...
Unity Must Take Precedence – 2
The other day I listened to Mr. Festus Keyamo on Sahara TV and I overheard him say, “Buhari is doing a good job-fighting corruption.” I said to myself, “this is not a follower of my mum’s uncle (Gani Fawehinmi) at all.” All over the south–Benue, Adamawa, Kogi, Taraba, Southern Kaduna, and Pleatue states–people are being killed, and all you could say is to start criticizing other activists who speaking truth to the brutish power of Buhari! Gani Fawehim will never support nepotism and the killing of innocent people by Buhari and his people. Well, Nigeria is a failed state, as...
Unity Must Take Precedence
If Fulanis, a single tribe in a heavily multicultural society, head 15 of Nigeria’s 17 security agencies, that means one geo-political zone in the country controls over 90 percent of all the political offices in the land. Does that portray an equitable or perfect representation of all Nigerians? I don’t think so! This Buhari of Nigeria is a divider. Buhari, in fact, is a true president of Northern Nigeria. This man is the chief of nepotism, and that means he is totally unqualified to be the President of the Nigeria of our dreams. Buhari is a misfit for for Office of the...
Why Is Nobody Believing Our President Trump Again?
President Trump has lied so much in this life, so much that even he does not believe himself; he does not believe what he himself says at all. Imagine for a man who is America’s President, struggling to convince us that there are actually shithole countries in this world? That is unbelievable. Now the entire charade of sincere and hypocritical choruses is all about what: Trump called African countries and Haiti “shithole” countries? Please, give us a break! What sorts of proofs does any idiot require before they open their eyes to the reality of Trump’s statements? Is it that...
I Have a Vision
One day I was sitting in my office. I began to think about the numerous problems of the entity called Nigeria. I said to myself: did GOD curse Nigeria, so that the country and her leaders cannot make a headway? Or are the problems in this “great” country man-made problem? In my ponderings, the answer that I arrived at was that Nigeria’s problems are man-made, and have nothing to do with coming from God. Nigeria got political independence from Great Britain in 1960, and since then, it has been a step forward and three steps backward, a very saddening situation. I...
Sukuk: A Global Economic Model
On 5 March 2009, the Vatican’s official newspaper L’Osservatore Romano reported that banks should look at the rules of Islamic finance to restore confidence amongst their clients at a time of global economic crisis. Author Loretta Napoleoni and income strategist, Claudia Segre, said that “The ethical principles on which Islamic finance is based may bring banks closer to their clients and to the true spirit which should mark every financial service.” They suggested “Western banks could use tools such as the Islamic bonds, known as sukuk, as collateral”. Historically, Catholic Church forbade usury but began to relax its ban on...
Place of Arabic Language in Nigeria’s Curriculum
‘As a historian myself, I have taken the keenest interest in this development, for it is through the aid of these Arabic documents and those written in African languages in Arabic scripts
Resurrecting En-Slaved Voices (Video)
The European languages are members of the same family. Their separate existence is a myth. The languages only differ in their grammar, their pronunciation and their.
Nigeria’s Followership Problem
We’ve had many essays that addressed leadership problems in Nigeria. Many columnists have posited that the only way out of the quagmire Nigeria’s in is to push for leaders that have ideas and that can make things happen. Where most of these arguments fail is that they do not make it clear that as important as it is to have good leaders, it is even more important to have good followers. Nigeria’s leadership problem may predate its followership problem but the effects of both problems are equally devastating. The problem of followership has always been there but nowhere is it...
Corruption Between Nigerians And The People Of Lot
Josephine Agwu is a cleaner who works at the Murtala Muhammed airport in Lagos. At sighting a cash of $12,000 within the airport, all that comes to her mind was, “this is not mine, I must return it to the authority.” She did exactly what her mind told her and what followed her action was absurd and appalling. “Was she destined to be poor in life?”. “If she doesn’t need it, can’t she give it to a relative who is in need?”. “Eeyah! Had it been I was the one who saw the money, alele!”. These are echoes from some...
The Psychology of Settling
When you study the history of electioneering in Nigeria since 2003, you will discover that there is a recurring trend. That trend is called “settling”. In the Nigerian Presidential election of 2003, Gani Fawehinmi was one of the Presidential aspirants. He was a man who people loved and who had a great record when it came to standing for what’s right. Yet when the results were announced, he had just 0.41% of the total votes compared to PDP’s Olusegun Obasanjo who won 61.94% of the votes to win a reelection. In the 2007 election, Pat Utomi looked like he had...
Dissecting The 2013 Egypt Coup and Turkey Failed Coup
Friday in the Muslim world is a very sacrosanct day that affords the faithful opportunity to congregate and share thoughts. As for the Friday 15th of July, 2016 it was indeed a dark one as some elements within the Turkish military forces planned to topple the democratically elected government in the country. The reality was that the coup hit a brick wall courtesy of the masses resolve to move massively against the military forces who had announced a takeover of government on that faithful day. The fall out from the failed coup was massive as well with over 200 people...
Ending The Cycle of Madness: Reexamining The Third Option
I voted President Buhari in the last election. But no, it wasn’t because I thought he could change anything; I have never seen him as anything but a living and breathing disaster. I voted for him because I overrated the ability of Nigerians to think and reason correctly. My thought was that if President Buhari failed (as I knew he would), Nigerians would sit, think, and consider a “third option”. That was what birthed my THIRD OPTION crusade. I wrote then that the problems of this country are systemic and will never be solved by mere electoral gimmicks and reforms,...
Redefining Mo Ibrahim’s Prize For African Leaders
The Mo Ibrahim’s prize for achievement in African leadership was announced few weeks ago and for the umpteenth time there was no clear cut winner for the coveted prize among past African leaders. After reading the news, I remembered a discussion with a colleague at work recently on the personality of Mo himself and how best he could channel his God-given wealth to develop his home of descent – Sudan. My colleague had argued that instead of Mo investing so much as high as 5 million dollars on African leaders, it would not be out of place if he directly...
Hijab, CAN and Religious Tolerance in Nigeria (2)
Obviously, the position of CAN which premised education as a sole property of missionaries requires rigorous review. The colonial authorities used education as a tool in administration towards integrating their culture and religious belief to respective countries they colonize. Yet the education and civilization promoted by the colonial masters were largely inherited from Islamic Civilization and Muslim Scholarship. Sir John Glubb in A Short History of the Arab Peoples, 1969 stated that ‘the indebtedness of Western Christendom to Arab civilization was systematically played down, if not completely denied. A tradition was built up, by censorship and propaganda, that the Muslim...
Hijab, CAN and Religious Tolerance in Nigeria (1)
On September 11, 2003, two teachers at the Franklin Science Academy in Muskogee, Oklahoma, were discussing the terrorist attacks that had occurred exactly two years earlier, when they spotted a sixth grader, Nashala Hearn, wearing a Muslim headscarf. The school’s dress code prohibited students from wearing “hats, caps, bandanas, plastic caps, or hoods on jackets inside the building.” One of the teachers sent Nashala to the principal, who warned and later suspended the eleven-year-old when she continued to wear the scarf. The school attorney said, “You treat religious items the same as you would any other item, no better or...
Like Every Other Month, This June Shall Pass
It is the middle of the year and also the last month in the second quarter of 2016. Thus, the month provides us with the opportunity to reviewing our achievements so far in the ongoing year in order to know where we are when compared to where we are coming from since the start of the year. At the global level, the US Presidential election is gaining momentum. It is believed that against all odds the battle is going to be between Democratic Party Candidate and wife of former US President, Hillary Clinton and Business Man turned Politician, Donald Trump...
Before We Cast The First Stone On A Kidnapper
The Nigerian Senate has been shrouded in controversies of late which has resorted to Nigerians believing that nothing good can come out of the hallowed chamber. From the purported purchase of SUV jeeps at an over-bloated price, to the proposed amendment, and hitherto stoppage of the CCT, CCB and ACJ Acts, and to the handling of the “padded” and “unpadded” budget with the Executive, Nigerians are arguably not happy with the 8th Senate. However, members of the 8th Senate have remained resolute against all odds and are prepared to bringing the dividends of good governance to the doorsteps of the...
The Struggle between National Interest and Ethnicised Politics
In Nigeria, at convocation of every national discourse, at every agitation of causes for national growth and development, ethnicised politics is always a default virus. It corrupts the reasoning of the citizenry; it diverts attention from core issues of national interest to mundanities and banalities; it changes the supposed narrative of pan-Nigeria conversation to one where practitioners of ethnicised politics are more interested in the “Fulani” of the herdsmen than the killings, and as an antithesis, one where accused ethnic affiliates sweat profusely in defence of their ethnicity more than condemning the criminality. The triumph of ethnicity over security in...
#PANAMAPAPERS: A WAKE UP CALL
We campaign and walk the streets, we carry placards in the scorching sun chanting “we want an end to inequality” The truth is our forefathers were victims of inequality, we are victims of inequality, and if care is not taken, generations to come will be victims, but why? Because we have never been equal to elites!
The Laxity of a State
The recent I don’t care attitude of governments at all levels in Nigeria drew my attention to an incident that occurred when growing up. News had it then that a cabinet member of a state had lost his family members to a car crash due to bad condition of roads within the state. That was about 20 years ago.
A Review of Dambisa Moyo’s Dead Aid, by Semiu A. Akanmu
Aid, “a sum total of both concessional loans and grants”, from donors – mainly Western, to African countries has “hampered, stifled and retarded Africa’s development” is the thesis of Dambisa’s Dead Aid. It is a tightly-argued book, combative, deep, factual, and above all, problem-solving. Dead Aid – a 187-page, 2-part, and 10-chapter book – is an army on its own in the ranks of anti-aid dependency model for African development. It attacks the moralist and the liberal developmental narrative of Africa’s needs of aid to fight its plague of diseases, build its social and physical infrastructure, and alleviate the poverty...
Senate’s suspension of CCB, CCT & ACJ Acts amendment: How far can the masses go?
News filtered in during the course of plenary at the Nigerian senate chamber last week that the ongoing amendment to the code of conduct bureau and tribunal act as well as the administration of criminal justice act had been suspended. To some Nigerians it is a welcome development after the pressure was mounted on members of the red chamber to drop the amendment at this period.
Hustling for Survival
Here are two boys. No! They are men, young men; local artisanal fishermen on fishing expedition. They are hardworking Nigerians, not criminals, in disagreement to the demeaning declaration by the President of their Nation. Photographed at the Lagoon Front Resort, located at the tail end of the ‘University of Lagos’ Campus, Akoka, Lagos, Nigeria. To them, street bandits are less human, and arms’ begging is not an option to consider to making ends meet.
A ki je meji po, l’aba Alade: Re-understanding Yoruba Philosophical Thought on Scarcity and Resource Allocation
Eunice, Precious and Taofeeq are friends whose certain challenges in life endeavours –what my other spiritual friends will call trials –propelled the need to re-understand “A ki je meji po, l’aba Alade” Yoruba philosophical thought. Eunice and Precious’ cases are similar, though with different causative factors. Taofeeq’s was quite different. But all are unified at a point where lessons on scarcity and resources allocation are indispensable. Eunice is a slim lady, elegant, intelligent and with an impeccable command of English language. Many would like to attribute her communication prowess to her field of study: Eunice is a graduate of Mass...
“It is up to you”: My First Lesson on Plurality in Malaysia
From certain distant observers, Malaysia is an Islamic country, most likely, the nationals speak Arabic, and Sharee’a (Islamic) law is the national legal mechanism. No matter how ludicrous this assertion might sound to those in the knowledge of the actual identity of Malaysia, it should not be surprising. It cannot be unusual when there are Nigerians naming Australia as a member country of West Africa. It can be that appalling! Even though I was fairly informed of the national identity of Malaysia, and its socio-political characterization, I was extremely surprised to learn that, despite being of Muslims majority (70%, arguably),...
Show Me Your Pineapple
The pineapple is quite intriguing, an appetising and nutrient-loaded fruit. In every way, the pineapple is unique – from its rugged pine skin to its ‘crown’ and its delicious ‘flesh’. Food experts call it the most nutritious fruit in the world. It is described as “… a composite of many flowers whose individual fruitlets fuse together around a central core. Each fruitlet can be identified by an “eye,” the rough spiny marking on the pineapple’s surface.” It has “a scaly green, brown or yellow skin and a regal crown of spiny, blue-green leaves and fibrous yellow flesh…”
Watch How Nigeria’s Buhari Militarizes Civilian Populace
Emerging trends from Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, have started worrying investors about the possible resumption of full-fledged violence in the country due to Buhari’s authorization of undemocratic trends among the military towards civilian population. It will be recalled that previous administrations, beginning from the late Ya’radua and continuing into Jonathan, had made frantic efforts to salvage the society from the rungs of violence.
Culture and African Development: Recasting the Dice of Africa’s Future
Africa, the Dark Continent of Conrad, has for long been a victim of civilization. The legacies of colonization have sharply brought down her much cherished culture. Culture is the totality of man. Many scholars have concluded that colonization brought nothing to Africa than slavery and loose of consciousness. Walter Rodney expresses this in his book How European Underdeveloped Africa. He listed many instances to include the economy and political life in Africa. With a sharp contradiction, Albert sees Europe in Africa as a privilege for Africa to develop. Africans could have developed better than where she currently is today. He...
See What Beyoncé’s Half-Time “Political” Performance Has Stirred
Super Bowl 2016 Queen B
Metering Black Lives: Making MarShawn McCarrel Matter
When, actually if, McCarrel had voluntarily arrived the steps of Ohio Statehouse it did not occur to his activist colleagues and critics that that was his last outing in public and private. According to posts on McCarrel’s Facebook page it appeared that some “demons” were upping their game in attacking the Black Lives Matter struggle organizer, and he, McCarrel, just not coincidentally, happens to be in the fore of their assault. So how does taking out this promising young black African American male, an addition to the statistics on young black male murder or murdered in the United States of America...